The area
of a shape is a number that tells how many square units are needed to cover
the shape. Area can be measured in different units, such as square feet, square
meters, or square inches.

You can find
an area by drawing a shape on graph paper, and counting the squares inside
the shape. But this is not very practical, so we use area formulas
instead. Every polygon
and circle
has a formula for finding its area.

Move your mouse over each shape to see the formula for finding its area.